Formation of a Nematic Fluid at High Fields in Sr3Ru2O7

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of an electronic nematic fluid in Sr3Ru2O7 near a quantum critical point, characterized by large magnetoresistive anisotropy, indicating a new collective electronic state in strongly correlated materials.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence for a nematic electronic phase in Sr3Ru2O7, linking quantum criticality to electronic symmetry breaking in a complex oxide.

Findings

Large magnetoresistive anisotropy observed near the critical point

Evidence of electronic nematic fluid formation

Phenomenological similarity to 2D electron fluids in GaAs

Abstract

In principle, a complex assembly of strongly interacting electrons can self-organise into a wide variety of collective states, but relatively few such states have been identified in practice. We report that, in the close vicinity of a metamagnetic quantum critical point, high purity Sr3Ru2O7 possesses a large magnetoresistive anisotropy, consistent with the existence of an electronic nematic fluid. We discuss a striking phenomenological similarity between our observations and those made in high purity two-dimensional electron fluids in GaAs devices.